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Monday, March 30. 2020Our Newest Arrival, PAWNEEDecember of 2019 will be a well remembered month in the coach department for we received an early Christmas gift. The "gift" was the PAWNEE, previously owned by John E.N. Blair. It was the last heavyweight, all-steel, non-streamlined private car built by The Pullman Company. It arrived on our interchange that grey, cold December 12th day. This long awaited Pullman heavyweight, historic, private car was switched into our campus about 1:15 PM. It moved, proudly, on its own wheels from Landisville, PA to Union, IL on three different railroads. Quite a fete considering all the regulations required by the railroad to move any type of passenger car, let alone an old car such as the "PAWNEE". It was a amazing accomplishment!  West of Olson road is where the PAWNEE was cut off from the rest of the train and brought up to us.  The UP takes it past the switch ready to set it out on our siding.  Bring our car back to us.  Another view. You can't imagine how excited and happy I was to see the PAWNEE finally at the museum. It took an lot of phone calls and maneuvering to get it here.  Our US Army switcher, 8537, backs up to it on the West end. Thats Bob Olson in the picture.  Heres Nick. Hes our conductor for the day.  The crew, Gregg, the engineer, and Nick in the cab of the 8537.  Thats Nick and I on the platform.  Here is another shot. Boy, did she ride nice over our rails. Quite a smooth ride. Didnt even feel any joints. Here is just a little bit of the history of the car. Harry Payne Bingham, the original owner, was the son of wealthy Cleveland, Ohio, industrialist Charles Bingham, president of Standard Tool Company. His father, Charles, was also a trustee of the then monopoly Standard Oil Company. Does that name sound familiar? That company was owned by John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Harry was born in 1887 and died in1955. In 1930 Harry, now a multi millionaire, place an order with the Pullman company for a private sleeping car. He named it ,of course, PAWNEE. The rest of the story will be told in upcoming articles in the Rail and Wire.  Crossing Olson Road.  A three quarter shot. Please notice the beautiful painted exterior. Not a bit of rust on the side sheets. The stairs are painted in primer and will be painted black this coming season.  A side view on the streetcar loop next to barn 9.  The three of us took some extra time and switched it ontoo the leads going into barn 10. Again this picture is on the streetcar loop operating towards the creek.  A close up of the side of the PAWNEE. Please notice the beautiful condition of the side of the car. I cant emphasis enough how beautiful it is.  Let me introduce John E.N. Blair. He is the gentlemen who previously owned it and gave to IRM. This was taken about two years ago in the inside store facility in Landisville Pa. John had the foresight to secure it inside and have it repainted to its previous Pullman green color. This is the reason why the PAWNEE now is so extremely well kept and in beautiful shape. If you wish to view the PAWNEE please visit barn 10. I will be more than happy to show you the car. It is now stored in that barn along with other freight and passenger car projects. If you wish to donate to the PAWNEE to continue the interior restoration please send a check or visit https://www.irm.org/donations/pawnee/ Thanks, Roger. Sunday, March 29. 2020Louisville and Nashville 314 Alco FA2 update 3/29/2020It has been quite a while since we have posted an update about our Alco FA2, L&N 314. The electrical cabinet has been pretty well filled up and the majority of the wiring has been completed. A significant amount of high voltage traction motor cabling remains to be reinstalled.  The front lower half of the electrical cabinet.  The front upper half of the electrical cabinet. The wiring in the control stand is nearly complete as well, just some sanding and alarm/indicator circuits remain. Control air has been applied and transition/field shunting circuits and all other relays sequenced good. Control transformer tested ok and revealed a few problems in the Static control panels that were fixed.  Engine control schematic diagram.  Main gen megs good, a full set of brush holders reconditioned and ready to apply.  Rear lower half where most of the high voltage cables terminate to the switchgear.  Rear upper half of the electrical cabinet.  All the fuel injection pumps have been disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. They all operate freely now and are being reinstalled on the engine.  You can see just how dirty they were.  Most recently, work on the GE 17MG8 governor is underway. Please help keep the work progressing by donating to the L&N 314 restoration Thank you for your support!
Friday, March 27. 2020United States Army 8537 update 3/27/2020In this update, we'll show some photos of the cleanup that was needed on USA 8537 prior to getting started on the body preparation.  Jim and Sean cleaning the side rods. GE 45 tonners have a single traction motor on each truck coupled to one of the axles through an oil filled reduction gear box. The second axle is coupled via a chain drive or side rods similar to a steam locomotive. 8537 uses side rods. One of the items on the daily inspection during operation is greasing the rods. During operation, that grease tends to fly and smear everywhere. Many hours were spent by Bob A, Jim P, Sean M, Dave V, and Linda E removing that grease and cleaning the rods, counterweights, and sides of the truck frames.  A view of a side rod after cleaning. The engines themselves, along with the floors of the engine compartments, received some attention as well. These engines are Cummins HBI inline 6 cylinder normally aspirated diesels rated at 150 horsepower each. This engine design is over 90 years old. We have five of them at the museum, two on the 8537, and three that run the power car in the Nebraska Zephyr. The #1 on the 8537 has the newer style PT fuel pump. The #2 engine still runs the original single disc fuel pump. It was interesting trying to get the mechanical throttle linkage adjusted to make the engines power curve synchronization be fairly close throughout the throttle range with those two very different pumps.  The pump side of the number 1 engine after cleaning. This shows the PT style pump.  The manifold side of the number 1 engine after cleaning.  The pump side of the number 2 engine, showing the single disc style pump.  The manifold side of the number 2 engine during cleaning. Stay tuned for the next update where we begin working on the body preparation. |
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Comments
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
Fri, 03-29-2024 21:26
We're slackers and spend more time working on the equipment in the shop than keeping all you readers updated. We'll work on it, but I'm sure updates [...]
Thu, 03-14-2024 08:02
What happened to the Department Blog? It's been over 2 years and I still regularly check for updates, but nothing comes...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]